Starquest
by sidthecussingbunny
Summary: AU where Star gets lost to the portal in 'Bon Bon the Birthday Clown.' Story picks up 3 years after the event.
1. Prom

"Y'know I hate to say it, but Janna was right."

Marco Diaz grimaced as he swallowed another sip of his drink, a sickeningly-sweet mocktail that looked about as bad as it tasted. He put the glass down next to a plate of half-eaten chicken and mashed potatoes.

"And I mean, you would have thought that they'd at least get the food right, _**what with how much we paid!**_" he remarked snidely as a waiter walked by.

The evidently underpaid waiter rolled his eyes. "Yeah as though you could do any better," he muttered under his breath.

"UM, YEAH! AS A MATTER OF FACT I CAN!"

Marco leaped from his chair, seemingly intent on confronting the waiter. But as he rose, his arm haphazardly swiped the mocktail glass, sending pink liquid flying onto his white dinner jacket. His face turned red, a mixture of anger and embarrassment. On the verge of screaming, Marco felt a hand on his shoulder accompanied by a chuckle.

"Marco dude, take a chill pill."

Jackie Lynn Thomas smirked as she did what she could to clean up the mess on Marco. It was a lost cause; the jacket was hopelessly stained.

"Argh! I saved up months for this suit!" Marco cried helplessly.

"I know, but hey, shit happens. We'll take it to the cleaners first thing tomorrow."

Jackie then reached into her purse for a couple of polaroid prints.

"In any case, at least we got the pictures already," she said leaning into Marco with some photos from earlier in the evening.

It was enough to ease Marco up. He and Jackie did look good together, and that was ignoring the fact that his white tux and her ocean blue dress were great pieces of attire by themselves. In their first picture together three years ago, Marco had looked like an awkward nervous wreck. Now, nothing could be further from the truth, what with the mix of formal poses, silly faces, and affectionate glances. Marco and Jackie looked like a proper couple.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Marco smiled.

He turned to survey the ballroom. Most people were still sat at their tables, looking bored out of their minds. Between the terrible catering, Brittney Wong's painfully unfunny attempt at stand-up, and Oskar Greason's rather _experimental_ soundtrack to the evening, prom night had been a calamity.

Marco sighed. "I don't know what I expected."

"Well dude, not everything can be an 80s teen movie."

"Oh yeah, definitely, but I mean… this is basically our farewell to high school, and it's more than a little underwhelming y'know? It's kinda sad actually."

"No, I get you. The whole idea of it being this great farewell event was the only reason I wanted to go."

"Heh, you would have thought we'd learned our lesson from that awful school dance huh?"

Jackie giggled. "Yeah!"

Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she grabbed Marco's hand.

"But hey, better late than never. Wanna scram?"

Marco smiled. "Don't mind if I do!"

The two 17-year olds ran out of the room and into the cool and clear night. As they did so, Jackie pulled out her skateboard, and they leaped on in sync.

Some things hadn't changed even after three years. Marco was still terrified of getting on a skateboard, and as Jackie glided effortlessly through the empty Echo Creek streets, he held on to her waist for dear life.

But some things _had _changed. For one, Marco no longer feared silence with Jackie, nor did he feel compelled to fill the air with forced conversation. He'd learned to feel comfortable in the moment, to just enjoy the time they spent together.

And so they skated by the various sights of their sleepy Californian town – the park, Hill-Trank Plaza, Britta's Tacos – in pure silence. Eventually, they reached the town pier, greeted by a full moon shining on the sea. Jackie slowed the skateboard, and the couple hopped off to sit by the pier's edge.

"You know, you may not have gotten your perfect high school movie send-off, but this has gotta make up for it right?" Jackie said, staring off into the moonlight.

"I gotta say, it's beautiful…" Marco began, before pausing. He found himself staring at Jackie, mouth agape. Jackie turned her head to meet him.

"What, _just like me_?" she asked mockingly.

"NO! I mean… YES! I mean you _are _beautiful, but uh… That's not what I meant… I mean… GARGH!"

Jackie laughed. "It's fine dude. Sometimes a cringey cliché is just what the doctor called for."

She reached for Marco's hand; their eyes locked on each other. Slowly, they leaned in and began to kiss.

"I love you Jackie Lynn Thomas."

"And I love you Marco Diaz."

Jackie began to lie down on Marco's lap. As she made herself comfortable, Marco took out a cassette and a cassette player.

"Wanna listen?" he asked.

"No way! You actually made one!"

"Yeah! I mean, you're always making me mixtapes, I figured I'd try and return the favour. Y'know, as a prom gift."

"Well, a 24-karat gold skateboard would have been nice, but I guess this'll do," Jackie teased.

"Ha-ha. Very funny."

Jackie motioned to put the cassette tape into the player. Marco complied, and the air started filling with mellow electronic beats: a compromise between Jackie's love for jazzy beat tapes, and Marco's addiction to bubblegum pop like Love Sentence. She nodded in approval; turned out there was hope for her boyfriend's music taste after all.

As the night wore on, the couple reminisced about school – the good and the bad – and shared their fears for the future – the uncertainty of not knowing what exactly they wanted from life, nor how to achieve it.

"I don't know, I keep telling myself chef or karate instructor. But the first will probably make me miserable after awhile, and the second… let's just say I don't want to end up like my sensei."

"Dude… Instructor? Who are you kidding, you're good enough to go pro!"

"That's nice of you, but one state title doesn't mean I'm _that _good."

"Pssh, look at you and your false modesty."

"Hey!"

Just then, a shooting star came flying through the sky.

"Ooh! Make a wish Marco!"

Marco seemed caught off guard by the star. He gave it some thought, but soon found himself staring blankly into the night sky, even after the star had disappeared. He'd found his answer, and Jackie knew exactly what it was.

"Yeah. I wish she'd come back too," she said softly.

"Every time I think I've gotten over it, I'm reminded of how much I haven't. It just… I just wish we had some closure. Is she alright? Is she Queen of Mewni? I'd like to think that she is, but if she was, she would have popped by at some point, right?"

Jackie tried to be reassuring. "Well who knows, being queen sounds like a 24/7 job."

"Sure, in theory. But this is Star we're talking about, she'd _make _time to come visit. And if she _isn't _on Mewni, what's going on? Is she still floating off in space? Hell, was she even sucked into space to begin with? We don't even know what that portal led to."

Marco and Jackie sat in silence. Both knew they didn't have any answers.

"Sorry. I know it's a pointless discussion."

"Don't say that."

"If only she'd left behind her dimensional scissors. We could have tried to look for her at least. If only her magic mirror still worked, we could have asked her parents about what was going on."

Jackie placed her hands on Marco's cheeks, and turned his head to face her. She chose her words carefully.

"Marco, as much as it sucks, there's a lot out there that's just… beyond our control. She's a magical princess from another dimension, and we're just… human. There was literally nothing we could do after she fell into that portal. I wish that hadn't been the case, but… but that's just how it goes. It's not great by any means, but… that's life."

Marco took a deep breath. "You're right."

Jackie pecked Marco on the cheek. "Let's go."

Slowly, they made their way back to the Diaz household. Nobody was awake when they got home. Exhausted, both stumbled up to Marco's room before slumping right into bed.

Jackie put her arms around Marco as she closed her eyes. "Get some sleep, you'll feel better in the morning."

"I'll try."

She kissed him one more time.

"Good night."

"Good night."

Marco tried to fall asleep, but it was easier said than done. Several times he almost did, only to be interrupted by a random jolt in his legs, the cries of Mariposa, or some other annoyance. It didn't help that his mind was still preoccupied with his and Jackie's earlier conversation. However, as the clock struck 4 in the morning, it seemed like he would finally do it. Slowly, he gave in to the sandman. Gradually, his mind descended into numbness, and his eyes began to seal shut. The bliss of sleep was nigh.

Until it wasn't.

Suddenly, a blinding light filled the room. A whirlwind developed, sending most of the things in the room flying in a vortex. Marco struggled to open his eyes, but as he did, he was able to make out what looked like a dark, purplish portal. Within the portal, a black silhouette appeared in the distance, and it was coming closer and closer by the second. For whatever reason, Marco felt powerless. His mind told him to scream, to wake Jackie up, leap out of bed, and either run or confront the mystery figure approaching. But his body would not comply; he could do none of those things.

The silhouette was now nearly in the room. Marco continued to lie there; eyes wide open. It was then, however, that he began to make out more details on the approaching figure. A roundish face, a pair of glowing cheek marks, long - _very long_ \- hair, and a set of wings. His eyes bulged, and finally he was able to croak something out.

"Star?"


	2. Portals

***knock knock***

The sun had just about risen over Echo Creek when Marco opened his bedroom window to let in a nonchalant, burrito-munching, beanie-wearing girl.

"You know I could have just let you in through the-"

The girl raised her finger to shush her host, and continued eating. She then walked in without a word or an expression, and made herself comfortable on Marco's bean bag. It was impossible to place her. Was she bored? Tired? Sad? Secretly ecstatic? For all Marco knew, it was probably none of them yet all of them at the same time.

"…Door… okay…" he said befuddled.

"Hey Janna!" Jackie waved cheerfully.

Again, finger.

Marco's room was a total mess. His belongings – globe, robot toy, and books – were littered across the floor. The TV was smashed, having fallen to the ground. The tables and drawers were all out of place.

Janna continued to chew away. Apart from those sounds, nobody had heard so much as a squeak from her. Sat on the bed at the opposite end of the room were Marco – still wearing the previous night's black tuxedo pants, but now with a grey T-shirt – and Jackie – now in her characteristic blue shorts and a white tank-top. Both eyed Janna. Over the years, her outfit – from jacket down to shoes – had become blacker, though this change was sharply juxtaposed by the light pink beanie she now sported. Apart from those visual changes though, Janna was still the same girl that Marco had always found difficult to read – or put up with.

"Are you really just gonna ignore us till you're done with-"

Finger.

"Oookay then."

Janna was about halfway done with her burrito. If she was really going to be prioritising her food over even acknowledging the other people in the room, then this looked like it was going to be a long wait. And yet, just when Marco thought she couldn't get any _less _urgent, she pulled out her phone.

"Janna, I SWEAR!" he screamed while rising from the bed with half the mind to throw his friend out the window.

As he stomped across the room to where Janna was lying, however, she casually stuffed the entirety of the burrito into her mouth, gave 5 big chews, and swallowed everything down in one big gulp.

Both Marco and Jackie looked mortified.

"I'm… I'm going to try and pretend I didn't see that," Marco said with his hands in his face.

"Sup guys."

"Wow, _it talks!_" Marco said sarcastically.

"So," Janna said as she stood up, "what's this about seeing dead people in the middle of the night?"

"Okay first of all-"

Marco had hardly begun when Janna slid to his side and shushed him once more.

"No wait, more important question is," she smirked before sliding over to Jackie, "how did _you guys_ get it on?"

Jackie chuckled. "Janna-"

"C'mon Jackie, girl talk. Did our little conquistador here live up to expectations, or will you be living the rest of your life with haunting pangs of regret?"

Marco was incredulous. "**JANNA, WHAT THE FU**-"

"Zip it Diaz. _Wellllll_?"

Jackie shrugged. "Dude, we ditched the prom, skated for a bit, chilled at the pier, then came back. That was it!"

Janna's smirk shifted into a glare. "Jeez well that was totally not worth coming over at 6 in the morning for."

"Are you done?" Marco asked irritably.

"Yeah whatever man," Janna said, hopping out of the bed and trudging over back to the bean bag. "Say your piece."

Marco breathed a sigh of relief, and sat himself back on the bed next to Jackie.

"Thank you_._"

He proceeded to recount earlier events, perhaps taking longer than necessary by getting lost in the unimportant little details, but he got there eventually. By the end of it all, Janna looked less than enthused.

"So what you're saying is, you had a dream," she muttered somewhat apathetically.

"What? Weren't you listening?! Dreams don't throw your very _real _stuff everywhere and break them!"

Janna shrugged, "No, but sleep-walking and karate-chopping the crap out of your things does."

"…WHAT?! Is that what you think this is?"

"Maybe. I dunno. Look man, your story has holes. You see this awesome blinding light, and hear these deafening winds, and yet, somehow, they weren't enough to wake Jackie up, or anyone else for that matter. And to top it off, 'Star' just disappears without saying a word or leaving anything behind. Like, when has Star ever been a silent presence? I'm pretty sure you had a dream. A batshit crazy one, sure, but a dream nonetheless."

Marco wasn't sure why, but he wanted, no, _needed_, desperately to be right. He turned to Jackie.

"Do _you_ believe me?" he asked.

Jackie looked at Marco with quiet concern. "Well, I am a deep-sleeper, and I do find it a bit hard to believe that you could have done all of this by yourself."

Marco felt his spirits lift up.

"But Janna has a point. If all of what you said did happen, then I don't think even I should have been able to sleep through it. As for Star… well, it's not a very Star thing to, y'know… not be full of life."

With that, Marco was pegged down a notch. The three friends sat momentarily in silence, each unsure of what to say next. It was amid this brief silence that it suddenly began to rain. Heavily. All three turned to face the window.

"That's weird… When did it get so dark?" Marco pondered out loud.

Something then caught Janna's attention. Her eyes grew wide, and she leaped out of the bean bag over to the window.

"Yeah, and when did rain get so… _cool_?"

Marco and Jackie got up and joined Janna by the windowsill to see what she had meant. Anything 'cool' in Janna's lexicon was often cause for concern to anybody else, and as Marco placed his face a breath away from the window, he realised that this was no exception.

"What… the… hell?"

This was no ordinary rain. The drops looked more like ink, being a very dark purple in terms of colour, and carrying a greater weight and thickness compared to normal water. Janna placed her hand on the window. Her eyes bulged, as though she was about to burst into tears of joy.

"_I will cherish this day for the rest of my life_," she whispered softly.

"Yeah, totally didn't hear that," Marco replied.

Just then, a bolt of lightning struck, killing the entire town's power supply. The three teens stood in darkness.

"There's a backup generator in the garage," Marco said as he put on his red jacket, "I'll see if I can get it running." But he'd hardly made it to the door before the ceiling, walls and floor began to shake with increasing violence. Outside, the wind began to howl as it blew with growing intensity.

"What's… going on?" Jackie asked to no one person in particular.

"The sky is crying… _because of __**Marco**_." Janna teased.

"Janna," Marco began with strained calmness, "I swear to god-"

For the umpteenth time however, he was interrupted. This time though, it wasn't by the girl who'd spent all of half an hour winding him up, but rather by the sudden appearance of a bright light far outside the window that had caught everybody's attention. At first, he wasn't sure, but it didn't take long for Marco to recognise where he'd seen it before.

It _hadn't_ been a dream. And this, right now, was certainly not a dream either.

The light became brighter as it rushed towards the window, all while the building continued to shake harder. Again, Marco found himself unable to move, as though entranced by the light. The two girls standing by the window found themselves in similar situations.

Abruptly, a shiver went down Marco's spine.

"Guys, RUN!"

His warning came too late. As the light reached the house, the windows smashed open, filling the room with powerful winds and lifting several objects into the air. The three teenagers struggled to keep their footing.

"GRAB ON TO SOMETHING!" Marco yelled, as he held onto the doorknob for dear life.

It was hopeless. This wasn't just a repeat of his experience earlier that day, it was worse. For one, the winds were stronger and more unrelenting. Even the bed was in the air now, and the most Jackie and Janna could do was cling onto it.

"SEE?! I TOLD YOU!" Marco screamed vindictively.

"Alright, three cheers for honest Marco!" Janna yelled sarcastically as she hovered just beneath the ceiling.

And then they heard it: that sound largely akin to the ripping of fabric.

All three heads turned to face where the bedside windowpane once stood. A dark purple portal had just emerged, and with it, the winds turned into a vacuum – one that got stronger by the second – that pulled the room's contents into the portal. Miscellaneous items were the first to go, but the girls were soon next. As the bed was sucked in, both Jackie and Janna leaped off to try and avoid an unknown fate. But it was useless, they simply flew in straight after the bed.

"MARCO!"

"JACKIE! JANNA!"

Deep inside, Marco was shocked at how long he'd been able to grip onto the door. But even his luck was about to run out. His fingers slipped ever so slowly, before he too went hurtling into the portal, shrieking the whole way.

He whizzed in and out, hitting the ground on the other side of the portal at great speed. Ignoring the velocity at which he had arrived, the terrain on which he had crash-landed was covered in gravel. He struggled to pick himself up, feeling cuts and grazes all over his hands and face. If it weren't for his soft, trusty red hoodie, the damage would have been worse.

Marco struggled to get his breath; his heart was racing, his mind panicking. Ultimately, he only succeeded in turning his body so that he lay on his back. It took him several more moments before he'd recovered enough control over himself to try and get his bearings.

"Jackie? Janna?" he meekly croaked.

Regathering his strength, Marco staggered up. As he did so, he took in his new surroundings properly for the first time.

"What the hell is this place…"

This new world, whatever and wherever it was, was a desolate wasteland. The land, while not particularly hilly, was extremely rocky. Shrubs and dead trees made up the majority of the foliage, though there appeared to be something like a small woodland area not too far away. Overhead, already grey skies were complemented by even darker clouds and thunder. Neither a building nor living creature seemed anywhere in sight. Scattered everywhere were the remnants of things that had once been part of Marco's room: a smashed bed, broken desk, and various torn books among others.

To his right, Marco saw someone grovelling not too far away. Spotting the pale blonde hair, he knew it could only be one person.

"I'm coming Jackie!"

Marco rushed over to his stricken girlfriend. Jackie had come off worse due to what she was wearing. Her limbs were scratched all over, with her knees slightly bleeding.

"Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah… No." She glanced at herself to see just how much harm had been dealt. "Goddamnit."

Marco sat down and brought Jackie to rest against his torso.

"Does it hurt?"

"Stings pretty bad, yeah." She then pointed to her knees. "And I think walking's gonna be a bit of a chore with those."

"Hey, it's okay, take some time to breathe."

Aptly, thunder struck that very second, as the sky now appeared completely covered with dark rain clouds.

Marco quickly corrected himself. "Or maybe not."

"Where's Janna?" Jackie asked softly.

"Right here," came the prompt reply from a standing and fully functional Janna.

"Seriously, how do keep appearing out of thin air, especially when there's almost nothing to hide behind in our general vicinity?!" a startled Marco complained.

"Call it _a gift_."

"Of course. Listen, we need to take cover before this storm hits. I saw a small forest over to that side, help me out with Jackie?"

For once, Janna didn't try to be snarky, and simply complied. Marco took off his jacket, and put it on Jackie so that her wounds wouldn't sting so bad should it start raining. Each person flung one of Jackie's arms over their shoulders, and together, the three friends started trudging off towards the woodlands. Their already testing situation got even worse when halfway there, it began to rain.

"Ho boy," Marco muttered. At least it wasn't Janna's 'cool' rain he thought to himself.

It was something worse.

The trio made it about 50 yards before Marco began noticing a prickly sensation all over the exposed parts of his body. Soon afterward, it began being accompanied by a mild burning sensation.

"Um, are any of you feeling what I'm-"

Janna quickly interrupted. "Acid rain. Unearthly acid rain. I feel it too."

With a renewed sense of urgency, the three teens upped their pace – fuelled by adrenaline more than anything – and eventually got to the woods. Unfortunately, the thin trees proved to provide very little cover.

"You've gotta be shitting me," Marco exclaimed. He frantically scanned the area hoping for something, _anything_, that could provide them better shelter from the elements. Within a couple of seconds, he'd found it: a small cave.

"Quick, over there!"

They frantically hobbled over, desperately wanting protection from the rain. At the same time, however, they didn't want to risk accidentally letting go of Jackie; lest they hurt her even more.

When they finally reached the cave, it turned out to be much bigger on the inside. Water leaked from the roof, but wasn't excessive and thus nothing to be worried about. Marco placed Jackie against a large rock, and tried to think.

"What now?" Janna asked, a hint of anxiety in her tone.

"I… I don't know. Wait for the storm to be over, and then… I really don't know."

He kneeled next to Jackie, and pecked her on the cheek.

"Get some rest."

Jackie smiled, and closed her eyes.

Together with Janna, Marco turned away from the cave mouth and starting moving inward towards the unknown interior. Oddly, there seemed to be a faint light being emitted somewhere in the distance. Instinctively, Marco's hands tensed up.

"Something's not right."

Suddenly, a rock crashed down right next to where Marco and Janna were standing. A coincidence? Maybe. That was, until another one followed, and another, and another. Marco was losing patience. He couldn't see anyone as he scanned the ceiling, but he decided to send a message anyway.

"Okay, um, I get that you're probably trying to kill us, but we just want temporary shelter from the burning rain if that's alright with you. Whoever you are."

"Out," came the gruff response, echoing and reverberating throughout the cave.

"Look, we're not trying to intrude, we're sorry, but-"

"**OUT!**"

Janna tugged at Marco's hand. "Okay, maybe-"

"NO! After all the shit we've been through, we're staying in this frickin cave! And I don't care if it means that I have to-"

Suddenly, Marco felt a blow to the head. Next thing he knew, he was lying on the floor.

"MARCO!" Janna shrieked.

Marco was still seeing stars in his vision as a large silhouette began to approach him with what looked like a club in his hand.

"Out. Means. Out. Why does stranger **not LISTEN!**"

The assailant lifted his club, as if to strike a killer blow, before a soft female voice spoke out from above.

"DADDY, NO!"

The club-wielding being paused. Two yellow eyes strained to look closer at the boy he was in the process of killing. Marco reciprocated, still in shock. Suddenly, something clicked in both their heads.

"Karate boy?"


End file.
